Smile
by 2NiCe4U
Summary: It's hard to smile when you never knew how...A warm story, where the third time's the charm. Literally. One-shot, SSHG.


Disclaimer: I don't own the characters, but I did have fun manipulating them!

A/N: Just a funny idea I came up with, and I think it turned out better than I planned! Yay! Well, I hope you enjoy it, and make sure to leave a review!

Smile

"Don't you think Ron is dreamy when he smiles?" A voice drifted casually from Hermione's left as she sat at the head table, eating and reading at the same time.

"Hrmph." She mumbled, too focused on reading the front page story of the _Daily Prophet_, where Ron stood with a large grin on his face, shaking hands with the captain of the Chudley Cannons. She scoffed and tossed the paper back on the table after reading the first few lines. Writers from the _Prophet _always loved to exaggerate and exacerbate the things they wrote about. She wished she didn't have to pay three knuts a week for it, but there really wasn't any other way to keep up with the outside world while living and teaching at Hogwarts. The _Witch Weekly_ was even more florid, and concentrated on things Hermione didn't have the time or inclination to care about.

She looked to her left to see Luna Lovegood still looking at the picture on the front of her edition of the _Prophet_, though she had hers upside down. Shaking her head slightly at the antics of her friend, she stood up from her seat, ready to leave.

"See you at lunch, Luna."

Luna waved distractedly at her, bringing the paper right up to her nose. Hermione snorted and left, wondering when the new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor would do something about her crush on the redhead.

Unbeknownst to both, they had been overheard. Severus Snape, sitting a few seats down from where Hermione had been, sneered at his thoughts. Granger thought Ronald Weasley had a dreamy smile, did she? He wished to stuff the dolt into the nearest vanishing cabinet.

Hermione was walking down the corridor. She had a class to teach in twenty minutes, and the hallways were crowded with students going to their next classes. Luckily hers was only one more staircase up and a few more corridors away. Up ahead, the students were making way for what was undoubtedly Professor Snape. She blinked and stared after him when he nodded politely as he passed her. Did that just really happen? She shook her head and continued to her classroom, but she was decidedly more distracted the rest of the day.

….

Hermione knocked on the potions classroom door.

"Enter." The unmistakable voice of the potions professor brusquely sounded from the other side. She opened the door, a polite smile on her face.

"Good evening Professor Snape. I was just wondering if I could use a few of the ingredients from the student's supply closet. I find I've been getting quite a few headaches lately." He blinked and then gestured to the closet door. "Thank you." She went to the closet and picked out the small amount of ingredients she needed. Headache potion wasn't very difficult to make, and she could pick some up at the infirmary, but she really didn't want to deplete the student's store of healing potions. Besides, she'd been so busy working on how to make her History of Magic class more interesting that it was a while since she had dabbled with potions. It would be fun.

She walked out of the closet, only to be surprised to see Professor Snape standing right there. He seemed to sense how startled she was, and smirked. "You may use the potions classroom to make it, if you wish. There are no more classes tonight."

Hermione smiled, "I think I'll do that."

His lips seemed to be twitching a lot.

"Are you alright, Professor?" He scowled at this.

"I would appreciate it if you would call me Severus," He replied gruffly. "It will keep me from being tempted to take points from Gryffindor."

She blinked. "Well, alright. You can, of course, call me Hermione then." She wondered if he was really ok.

Thirty minutes later she was looking into her cauldron with satisfaction.

"Well done, Hermione." A flush rose to her cheeks, and she would have grinned at him, but the beginnings of it slipped off her face when she saw his expression. His teeth were all bared as he looked down at her.

Without hesitation, she walked up and touched her hand to his forehead. "What's wrong?" He winced and his expression turned into a grimace.

"It seems I could use a bit of your potion, Miss Granger."

She sighed in relief, "Of course, Severus." She turned away and missed the almost dazed look that took over his face as she ladled a dose of cooled potion into a beaker for him to drink. She turned and handed it to him.

"Ah, thanks," He replied awkwardly. He stood there for a few moments before abruptly turning to walk to his desk. "Essays," he muttered.

Hermione watched him walk off bemusedly before shrugging and ladling the rest of the potion into beakers. She ended up with six. She sighed happily. It was nice to do something a bit more hands on than page turning once in a while.

"Goodnight, Severus," She said cheerfully as she walked towards the door.

"Goodnight, Hermione," The strangled sound of his voice carried through the closing door. Hermione paused and bit her lip, still worried at his health, but figured the potion would surely help, and he most likely wouldn't appreciate her worrying over him. She continued down the corridor, headed towards her rooms.

….

A month later, Ron's smiling face was once again on the front page of the _Daily Prophet_. It seemed that the Chudley Cannons were on a winning streak, something that hadn't happened for quite some time. As Ron was the newest player, of course they would single him out as the cause of this surprising turn out. Hermione was still pleased to see the signs that he had been trying to be modest during the interview, even if it was Rita Skeeter's Quick Notes Quill at work.

Luna sighed dreamily. Hermione smirked. "Lav says he's quite the kisser."

Before Luna could reply, a crash resounded from down the table, and they looked to see Severus Snape standing, his chair fallen to the floor. He noticed their gaze but said nothing and abruptly turned and left the room, the students whispering to each other after he was gone.

"What is wrong with him? He's been acting so strange lately."

"You don't know?" Luna's voice drifted casually over her. Hermione turned and stared at her friend, waiting for an answer. "It's because of you."

"Me?" Hermione burst out, and then lowered her voice to a harsh whisper as she realized how many people were staring at her. "What have I done to offend him?"

"Oh, Hermione, you're clueless." Those words coming from Miss Head-in-the-Clouds almost made Hermione laugh, but she was too interested in what she would say to interrupt. "Severus is jealous of Ron."

Of all the most ridiculous accusations! "Ron? Why would he ever be jealous of Ron? Don't tell me he's always wanted to be a Chudley Cannons team player!" Hermione huffed out a laugh at the thought.

Luna smiled. "Nope. He just really likes you, and can't stand the fact that Ron is closer to you than he is. He thinks you like Ron."

"Well of all the ridiculous …! I don't like Ron! At least not more than a friend." Hermione paused so she could process the fact that Severus Snape might actually like her. The pieces were starting to come together. That day … Was he really only trying to smile at her? She couldn't help but chuckle. No wonder he'd scowled and grimaced. She had been so clueless- still would have been, if not for Luna. "Luna, I've got to go."

Luna smiled indulgently as she watched her friend go. It was about time she did something about that crush. Now, time to get back to the _Daily Prophet_. She pressed the paper up to her face; the better to see Ron's smiling face.

….

Hermione knocked on the potions classroom door, and was reminded of the last time, when she heard his beckon from the other side. She walked in and saw that Severus was furiously busy working on student essays. She almost winced. In his frame of mind, there'd be no mercy.

"Severus," She said tentatively, and his quill paused. He shifted to look at her, and she couldn't tell what he might feel about her at the moment. Well, she wasn't a Gryffindor for nothing. She walked to the desk and stood on the other side. "There's no need to be jealous." He scowled and went back to furiously grading papers.

Hermione sighed and walked around to his side of the desk, plucking the quill from his hand and sticking it into the pot of ink. He couldn't grade anymore of the essay, but he wouldn't look at her. She leaned her body against the desk, trying to get as much of a view of his face as possible as she continued, "I'm sorry that I didn't realize before. It must have been quite awful with me being so oblivious. The only excuse I have is that I didn't think, with our gap in years, that you would ever be interested in me. I thought that you would always see me as a student. And … I want you to know that your smirk is infinitely sexier than Ron's smile could ever be." She flushed at making this last bold comment, but it seemed to have effect, as his face turned towards her.

"Oh," Was all she could say, as she saw the glitter of his slightly crinkled eyes, the corners of his lips tipped up slightly. It was possibly the most brilliant smile she'd ever seen, more effective from his face than any other man's charming visage. Take that, Lockhart!

He seemed to notice his effect on her, and the smile turned into a smirk of triumph. She couldn't help but smile back. He stood, and she realized how close they were.

"Well, Hermione, you've now seen me smile. Why don't we … celebrate the occasion?" Hermione nodded, not even going near mentioning how sexy his voice was to her. His ego was stroked enough as it was for the moment.

Her eye lashes fluttered as their lips met, and she was pleased to tell Luna, the next time she saw her, that he had a great smile. Of course, she'd keep to herself that his kisses were better. No one else needed to know that!


End file.
